Description
The authors developed a new record of iceberg-rafting by analyzing the flux of calcium carbonate in a sediment core taken from the Nansen Trough (68.10°N, 29.35°W), a shelf-continuation of Nansen Fjord on the East Greenland Shelf. Cooling and warming cycles were interpreted by the authors from carbonate flux variations and revealed multiple warming and cooling cycles throughout the Holocene, similar to the "'Little Ice Age' and 'Medieval Warm Period' type cycles of greater and lesser sea-ice extent throughout the Neoglacial interval." From their Figure 6, the MWP (~AD 950-1500) can be seen to have experienced the lowest detrital carbonate flux of the past 10,000 years, in which iceberg-rafting events essentially became non-existent. Hence, it can be inferred that this was the warmest period of the current interglacial for this region. However, Jennings et al.'s data do not extend into the modern era, making it impossible to compare the warmth of the MWP with that of the Current Warm Period.